High-rise condo sales slow this year

A penthouse in One Queensridge Place sold for $10.9 million to lead the way among high-rise condo sales to kick off 2025.

The condo dubbed “The Crown Jewel” of Queensridge, by listing agent Gadi Hahamy of Realty ONE Group comes as Las Vegas has seen a slowdown in condo sales to start the year.

Condominium-hotels dominated the high-rise condo sales during the first quarter with Trump Las Vegas hitting its highest sales price and price per square foot since the second quarter of 2019. Its average price was $421,922, the highest since the end of Trump’s first term.

The return of Donald Trump to the presidency appears to have bolstered the value of sales, with $640 per square foot paid for 13 sales — the most since it was $665 in the second quarter of 2019. The average price a year ago was $330,667 or $514 per square foot.

Condo-hotels MGM Signature led the way with 27 sales during the quarter followed by Palms Place tying Trump Las Vegas for second place at 13, according to Las Vegas Research firm Applied Analysis.

It was an otherwise slow sales season for high-rises with 148 closings, down from 168 in the first quarter of 2024 and 165 in the first quarter of 2023. It’s the fewest in the first quarter since there were 162 in January through March 2020, which marked the beginning of the pandemic closures in March.

Applied Analysis now tracks 22 high-rises in Las Vegas, up from 21 after it added Regency Towers to the list. That property had one sale in the first quarter for $495,000 or $224 per square foot.

The average price paid for high-rises in the first quarter was $611,771 or $518 per square foot. In the first quarter of 2024, the average price was an anomaly at $818,717 or $599 per square foot. A year earlier in 2023, it was $653,409 or $517 per square foot, equivalent to the 2025 number.

Following the top three condo-hotel towers, Panorama Towers was next with 12 sales. It had an average price of $512,083 or $431 per square foot.

Turnberry Towers had 11 sales with an average price of $727,818. Its price per square foot was $546.

Turnberry Place had 10 sales with an average price of $1.21 million and a $483 price per square foot.

Veer Towers had 10 sales with an average price of $786,564 or $775 per square foot.

Among other high-rises, the Waldorf Astoria had five sales with an average price of $1.49 million or $1,148 per square foot.

The Vdara condo-hotel at CityCenter had two sales with an average price of $787,500. It stood out with a price per square foot of $1,343, the highest in the quarter.

One Queensridge Place had three sales with the highest average sales price at $2.74 million. That translates to $724 per square foot.

One Las Vegas had eight sales followed by The Ogden with seven and Allure with six. Sky Las Vegas had five sales.

The remaining towers had three or fewer. Park Towers had no sales.

The $10.9 million sale at Queensridge kicked off the second quarter and a unit that Hahamy called “a true masterpiece, with details handcrafted with the finest imported materials, flooring throughout created in hand-placed precious stones, Jerusalem stone walls, hand-carved built-ins, custom Venetian plaster finishings, handcrafted marble and iron custom railings and fine details throughout.

“It’s basically a palace in the sky,” Hahamy said. “The group owned it for six years. We put it in and out of listings, but they used it for events, parties and weddings. Then someone (a former tech executive) from Silicon Valley walked in, saw it and wrote a check.”

The unit was purchased in 2019 for $8 million.

The condo has a private elevator with a 24-foot entry with double iron and a stone staircase leading to the second floor and a hidden three-floor retreat, Hahamy said.

“Every room is uniquely crafted and designed with no two rooms alike,” Hahamy said.

The condo features a 2,500 square-foot terrace with unobstructed Strip views and a private pool, multiple additional terraces attached to bedrooms and baths, retractable pocket glass patio doors, in-house elevator, upper and lower laundry rooms, primary suite with dual toilets, bidets and double built-in closets and a custom home theater.

Bret Wulf with Simply Vegas is listed as the buyer’s agent in the transaction.

Hahamy called the condo market flat and a buyer’s market since his particular unit to replace costs more than $20 million. He said until interest rates fall to 5 percent and below the market won’t see many sales for a while.

“I don’t see any more big sales right now,” Hahamy said. “No one wants to sell their property at a 3 percent interest rate and buy anything at 7 percent. Most of those big deals are only going to be done with cash. Anything over $7 million to $8 million it doesn’t make sense to take out a loan even for a wealthy person.”

Frank Napoli, luxury Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, said while the number of condo sales are down the inventory is down as well in properties like the Waldorf Astoria. There’s just a handful of units on the market there and only a few are one-bedroom units.

“That’s been pretty consistent throughout the year, and the sales we are seeing raises the average price in the building,” Napoli said.

Napoli said there’s a bigger market for high-rise condos that have already undergone renovations rather than leaving it for the buyer to do. He said he’s still closing sales on luxury units but acknowledges any potential buyer who is impacted by higher interest rates would be less willing or unable to purchase.

“We had quite a run here in Las Vegas the last five years, but I don’t think the market is shifting in a negative way,” Napoli said. “It’s balancing out where there’s more opportunity for buyers. It’s important as a seller that buyers have options out there. If you have a good product and price it right you can be very successful. There are plenty of buyers that can’t find what they’re looking for.”